[BCMA] Royal BC Museum 2012-13 Exhibitions Announced Today

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Please go to our Press Room at http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/About_RBCM/News_Releases.aspx for detailed backgrounders, media image sheets, programs and publications. High-res images available on request, 250-382-3207.
[cid:image002.png at 01CD90D9.943051B0]                                   NEWS RELEASE



September 12, 2012



New exhibitions take visitors to the ends of the earth and back again



Victoria, BC - Stories of daring adventure, intrigue, heroic bravery, and awe-inspiring natural beauty will captivate visitors in six new exhibitions for 2012-2013 announced today by the Royal BC Museum.



"Epic is how I sum up our new exhibition season," said Royal BC Museum Chief Executive Officer, Professor Jack Lohman. "Our museum team has assembled a world class line-up for visitors, featuring acclaimed international touring exhibitions and others newly created by the Royal BC Museum in collaboration with community partners to celebrate important provincial milestones."


The new season opens Oct. 4 with Envisioning the World: The First Printed Maps, a stunning collection of rare maps, dating from the late-1400s, that portray early attempts to come to grips with the shape, size, and nature of the Earth and our solar system.

Important historical treasures from the BC Archives will go on rotating display in the newly-renovated lower lobby area of the archives beginning October 22. The first objects on show will be the Douglas Treaties, the only formal treaties signed with First Nations in British Columbia before the modern day treaty process now underway. The treaties, signed by James Douglas and a number of First Nations on Vancouver Island between 1850 and 1854, offer a glimpse of these societies at the cusp of the Aboriginal colonial experience. Since the 1982 Canadian Constitution Act recognized the legal weight of the documents, the treaties have become the bedrock for First Nations' rights and title within modern Canadian common law.

Two exhibitions that tell the stories of valour and service open in time for Remembrance events at the Royal BC Museum. The Navy - A Century in Art makes its first British Columbia appearance as part of a cross-Canada tour organized by the Canadian War Museum. To mark this year's centennial of The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's), the Royal BC Museum and the regiment will present For Valour - The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) 100 Years of Service in Peace and War


The wildly popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year from London's Natural History Museum returns Nov. 30 with the winning entries from the 2012 world competition. The striking exhibition features 100 large-scale, back-lit photographs chosen from more than 48,000 international entries from 98 countries in 19 categories, including Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife, World in Our Hands and Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year.



Opening Feb. 7, 2012, Tradition in Felicities - Celebrating 155 years of Victoria's Chinatown tells the remarkable story of the growth and development of Canada's first Chinatown and the cultural ties that continue to bind it inextricably to the Greater Victoria community. The Royal BC Museum is working to conserve the oldest-known Chinese lantern, an artifact that exemplifies the endurance of Chinatown's heritage. A multi-media exhibition will share personal vignettes from elders who helped build Chinatown into the vibrant community it remains today.



The season finale opens May 17, 2013 for a five-month summer engagement. Race to the End of the Earth recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration: the epic quest to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1911-1912.



The exhibition is organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York and was developed in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum and the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France.



Race to the End of the Earth tells the dramatic story of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and Captain Robert Falcon Scott of the British Royal Navy on their individual drives to be the first to reach the South Pole. Original artifacts, re-creations of their camps, interactive exhibits and hands-on activities help visitors of all ages learn what it would have been like to travel to the coldest place on Earth a century ago, as well as what it is like to conduct research there today.



Royal BC Museum staff are also involved in writing the modern story of Antarctic research. Exhibit Arts Technician Jana Stefan is part of an international team that departed in August for six-months to take part in an ongoing project to restore Scott's 1911-1912 expedition base camp. The delicate work to save the hut and more than 8,500 artifacts in the unpredictable polar environment make this one of the most ambitious conservation projects ever undertaken. Stefan will be offering glimpses into life in the Antarctic in blog posts on the Royal BC Museum website starting in late September.



Dinosaurs Held-Over until Sept. 30

Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries is being held over until Sept. 30 due to popular demand.
Prepare to take a journey of discovery and dig into the exciting world of modern paleontology. The amazing bio-mechanical models and lush dioramas in the exhibition give visitors the thrill of discovering something new about these amazing creatures that lived millions of years ago.

About the Royal BC Museum
As the provincial museum and archives, the Royal BC Museum preserves and shares the stories of British Columbia - on-site, off-site and online - through its research, collections, exhibitions, publications and educational programs. Its two-hectare cultural precinct in Victoria also includes a number of historically significant buildings and First Nations sites.

-30-
Media Contact:
Royal BC Museum Media Inquiries
250-387-3207
news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vvv.com/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20120912/4fa5e875/attachment.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9126 bytes
Desc: image002.png
Url : http://lists.vvv.com/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20120912/4fa5e875/attachment.png